Ten Square Cafe — Restaurant in Melbourne

⭐ 1 Star – Absolutely Horrible Experience Rude, Unprofessional & Intimidating

I honestly cannot believe how shockingly bad the service was at Ten Square Café. My husband and I travelled a fair way for what we thought would be a nice coffee and snack with family instead we were met with the rudest, most unprofessional treatment we’ve ever experienced.

We arrived first and waited for my sister in-law. A waiter politely asked if we’d like to order, and we said we’d wait a moment. She said, “No problem, take your time.” When we decided to order, we got two coffees and fries for the table. My sister-in-law arrived, ordered her coffee straight away, and sat down. Everything seemed fine until it wasn’t.

A short while later, the waiter came and told us they’d need the table soon and that we had 20 minutes left. Fair enough, we thought but then the situation turned ugly. While we were still enjoying our fries (which were barely touched) and chatting, the owner stormed over and aggressively told us to leave if we weren’t going to order more. He loudly claimed we had “wasted their time” and “didn’t order anything” despite the fact we had ordered coffees and food.

He was rude, disrespectful, and kept interrupting us instead of listening. He even yelled that he’s “here to make money” and accused us of being “time wasters” in front of everyone. His tone and body language were intimidating to the point my husband had to step in and tell him not to try to intimidate me.

We left in utter shock, feeling completely disrespected and humiliated. This man’s behaviour is disgusting and completely unacceptable, especially in hospitality. Every customer has the right to enjoy a coffee and snack without being harassed or treated like dirt.

I would never recommend this place to anyone. In fact, I’ll be telling as many people as possible to avoid it. Ten Square Café doesn’t deserve Melbourne’s business if this is how they treat paying customers. The owner needs a serious reality check or the place should be shut...

One star, and that’s generous.

I came here with my wife and sister for what was meant to be a simple coffee and light snack. From the start, the service was painfully slow, taking 20 minutes just to take an order after we were seated. We explained to the friendly waitress that we were waiting for my sister to arrive, she was only 10 minutes away, and were told “No worries, take your time.”

My wife and I ordered two coffees and a snack. My sister arrived as our order came out and promptly ordered her own coffee. Fifteen minutes later, she was still waiting while every other table was being served. When we asked, we were told we needed to go to the counter for it, only to discover they had made it takeaway instead of dine-in.

Then came the real issue. While we were still mid-visit, a staff member advised we probably had about 20 minutes left at the table because we “weren’t ordering a substantial meal.” Fine, that’s their policy. But just after we finished, the French owner approached, not me, the man at the table, but my wife and sister, choosing to berate two smaller women in an aggressive, confrontational tone.

Two minutes earlier, I had watched another table be politely asked if they could wrap up. That courtesy was not extended to us. Instead, my wife and sister were verbally attacked, leaving them visibly shaken. As we walked out after paying, the owner continued his tirade at my wife until I stepped in. Unsurprisingly, his aggression instantly dropped when challenged.

To top it off, we were falsely accused of being asked to leave “four times” and of not ordering anything, despite having a bill in hand. It was a blatant lie from his staff to justify his behaviour.

Good reviews or not, our experience was appalling: slow, disorganised service, incompetent communication, and a cowardly, aggressive owner who thinks intimidating women is acceptable customer service. We will not be back, and I strongly suggest others think twice before...

Only giving one star cause I unable to give 0 to leave a review. Went here for my hens brunch with eight of my girlfriends. My sister called on the 29th November at 11:37am and made a phone call for 1 minute to the venue. She spoke to someone and made a booking for 11am. We came to the venue today, spoke to a girl who asked if we have a picture of the booking confirmation. We didn’t recieve on, we only got oral confirmation. The manager Ante then came out and said six words to us. ‘We don’t take booking BYE BYE’ . Absolutely shocked and disgusted at how rude we were spoken to. Ante first said they don’t take bookings at all. I later called back pretending to be someone else and they said they do take bookings but only at certain times on the weekend. From our end, we know we definitely made the booking. From Antes end, he is saying they don’t take bookings at 11am on weekends. What has happened is that the person we spoke to on the phone must have made a mistake and taken the booking at 11am. Instead of exploring what had happened, seeing what options we had or trying to accomodate us- Ante thought it would be appropriate to say bye bye to us as soon as he saw us? I wonder if it were a group of 9 Caucasian men , would they have received the same rude reaction? It later came out from Ante that apparently people try to walk in claiming bookings all the time so he had assumed we were just a group like that and took it upon himself to treat us the way he did. Disgusting behaviour and not the way consumers should be treated. Ante if you are reading this, I urge you to speak to your staff who were working on 29th November in the morning and advise them of your booking system as we were told we could book at 11. Also, don’t speak to people so rudely and disgustingly. You shouldn’t be in customer service with a...